catch and
kill him, while all the time the saucy little dog barked back, "Better
catch me before you kill me!"

Splash! went a big stone in the water, and if it had hit Zip, it
certainly would have killed him as it was so big, but he jumped aside just
in time. Then what did this mischievous, daring little dog do but stand
perfectly still and watch the tramp come after him, wading through the
tall, wet marsh grass, stumbling as he came. He was within five feet of
Zip and was just thinking, "One more step and I can reach him!" when the
long tangle grass caught one foot and threw him face down in the soft,
oozy mud.

Zip barked a bark that sounded more like a laugh than a bark, making the
tramp more determined than ever to kill him, even if he had to fall forty
times before he caught him.

Had the tramp stopped to think, he might have known that the dog was going
to play some trick on him, for who ever heard of a dog standing still
while a man with a big, heavy cane was bearing down on him to brain him?
But the tramp was far too angry to reason. All he thought of was to kill
the dog that had bitten him and then ran off with his clothes. He picked
himself up as best he could, and made a spring at Zip, bringing his cane
down at the same time. But as before, when the cane came down there was no
dog under it. Zip had jumped into the frog pond and was quietly swimming
to the opposite shore.

When he saw this the tramp tore his hair with rage, threw clods of mud at
him and fairly yelled with fury, while Zip walked out of the water as if
no one were near, shook himself dry and trotted off home down the other
side of the pond, leaving the tramp lying on his stomach trying to fish
his bundle of clothes out of the water.

Suddenly Zip stopped short, pricked up his ears and listened. Yes, he was
right! He had heard the doctor's low, peculiar, penetrating whistle. That
meant he was about to start on his rounds to see his patients. He never
went without Zip sitting up on the seat beside him in his old-fashioned
buggy.

Zip loved these daily trips, for he was a most active, nervous, curious,
little dog, and always wanted to know what was going on throughout the
village, and these rides gave him a splendid opportunity to find out.
While the doctor was in visiting his patients, Zip would jump out of the
buggy and go around to the back of the house to call on the family's cat
or dog, whichever it happened to be. And though you may n